First Funeral
by Elise Marie
Summary: Third in my "First" series. After weeks of not talking due to her cat killing his rat, Hermione tries to make it up to her best friend. WARNING: Character Death of sorts .


**Title: **First Funeral.

**Book: **Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

**Spoilers: **Set around page 215 in HP:POA, general spoilers up until then.

**Warnings: **"Character Death". A canon based one, I have not killed anyone in the HP universe. Yet.

**Rating: **T/PG-13. Slight adult-ish theme.

**Category: **Friendship.

**Summary: **After weeks of not talking due to her cat killing his rat, Hermione tries to make it up to her best friend.

**Disclaimer: All characters and the universe they exist in belong to J.K Rowling and her publishers.**

**Author's Notes: **Due to where in the book this is set, technically there are errors, but as far as the characters are aware at that point in time there needs to be a proper farewell to the innocent Scabbers.

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It was a cloudy but slightly warm March day, perfectly fitting for the task at hand. The Easter holidays would soon be upon the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the exams would then be just around the corner. On this particular day, unfortunately, there were no thoughts of the upcoming holidays or the exams, instead only sad thoughts at the recent loss to Gryffindor. Not that anyone believed that the Easter holidays would be fun. Not only did every student have a lot of homework but there was also Quidditch practice, Buckbeak's trial and, of course, the Dementors. Harry still had to have Madame Hooch monitor their training sessions so that he was not outside alone with the dangerous prison guards so close by. Now, no students were allowed anywhere without someone watching them. Professor McGonagall had allowed today's group of Gryffindor students passage to Hagrid's hut, but only because of the very special reasons and the fact that Hermione had pleaded with her very strongly to allow them. Aided in her permission was the fact that Hagrid and Percy Weasley, now Head Boy would also be attending.

Hagrid was standing a slight distance away from the rest of the children, preferring to leave the ceremony to them as Scabbers' close family. He wished to give them their own goodbyes, although he was also pleased that he could pay his own respects to the scraggly rat. Hagrid was also very aware that it was his responsibility to keep them all safe should a Dementor or, possibly even worse, Sirius Black himself show up.

Standing underneath an average sized tree, just slightly out from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Percy Weasley stood behind a small headstone made of two twigs. He had his hands clasped in front of him as he spoke about the dear rat that had once, up until just a few years ago, been his treasured pet. He told some funny stories, recounted some scrapes they had gotten into and then expressed how deeply sorry he was for their loss. At a right angle to him, lining the length of the 'grave' was a line of other Gryffindor's paying their last respects. The whole party was mainly made up of Weasley's, but did also include Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Ron stood at the head of the line, as the most recent owner of Scabbers. It had been close to a month since he had found his bloodied sheets as the only remaining signs that something had happened to Scabbers. It was now the general consensus that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, had eaten him. There was no proof and it had caused Ron to not speak to his best friend for quite a long time. They had recently made up and whilst Hermione had not accepted liability for her cat's (possible) actions, she had arranged this little event by means of apology to Ron. Next to Ron were his twin brothers and younger sister with Ginny standing in between her two older brothers. She was the only member of the party who had tears running down her face.

Next to Fred Weasley were Hermione and then Harry at the end of the line. Each bowed their heads as the final prayer was spoken by Percy and then Ron stepped forward to pay his last respects. One by one, everyone said a few short words and then they all slowly started walking up towards Hagrid. Of course with no body having been found, there was no actual rat to bury in the plot, but the headstone would remain as a symbol for them. Hopefully once Black was caught, they would be free to visit the makeshift grave whenever they wished. Ron hung back until everyone else had started to walk away, allowing himself a few moments of slight privacy. Percy was in the front and Hagrid remained at his slight distance away until everyone was inside. He did not mind waiting a few moments for Ron; he had every sympathy for the young Weasley. As teacher of Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid had many creatures that he had come to love and many others that he would love to have. Every time that he had one of his dangerous animals confiscated or he had to arrange for one to leave, it broke poor Hagrid's heart. He would let Ron have his few moments.

As Hermione approached Hagrid, she realised that Ron was not with them. Turning around, Hermione saw that Ron was still down by the grave. She gave him his space, but she waited for him as all of the rest (except Hagrid) continued back into the main castle grounds. She watched as he bent down and gently touched the very simple headstone that she had made for Scabbers. She had surprised Ron a few days prior to today, having already gained the permission of Professor McGonagall and the help of Hagrid and Percy, with the simply made cross shaped headstone. He had been alone in the Gryffindor common room when she had approached him, hands and headstone behind her back. He had looked up from the book that he was reading; Hermione remembered using that book for some homework a few weeks ago. She always did her homework days, if not weeks, before he did his. He had seemed thankful in the interruption to his work and Hermione had suspicions that he had only just opened the book. She had then told him of her plan, of her apology to him. His huge smile had made her blush.

"Scabbers," he spoke softly. From his position kneeling, Ron gently touched the horizontal twig forming the headstone. It was into this twig that he had etched the name Scabbers after Hermione had given it to him. "I know you were old and a bit useless, mate, but I never wanted to be here. I figured that you'd get a bit older and one morning just wouldn't wake up." He paused, bowing his head to look at the grass just in front of him. "Not that I wanted you to die, but that way would've been a lot nicer." He sighed and got back to his feet. "I'll miss you." Ron stepped over the empty grave and saw Hermione take a few steps towards him.

"Ron," she smiled at him and he gave a slight smile in return. They both stood there, facing each other a few paces away from Hagrid and not too far from the castle. "It was a... very nice service."

"Thanks," he mumbled. "Thank you for organising it all. I never thought McGonagall would let us out of the grounds." He put his hands into the pockets of his school issued cloak and rocked on his feet a bit. "I really am sorry for how mean I was to you."

Hermione shook her head. "We were both out of order at different points. I could have been a bit nicer about things. Let's let bygones be bygones."

He looked at her curiously. "Bygones? What are they? Is there something else I've missed in class?" Ron looked so devastated at the thought that Hermione could not help but laugh out loud at him, causing his entire face to redden. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she gasped between gulps of air. She composed herself. "Sorry. It's, uh, it's a Muggle saying. It basically means that what's in the past is in the past and that you can't change it now."

He nodded, understanding. "Unless you've got a time turner."

She stared at him, shock and mild confusion on her face. "A what?"

It was Ron's turn to smile as there was something that he knew and which she did not. "It's for travelling back in time. It's against the law though, bad things can happen travelling through time."

Hermione considered him for a moment. "Right now, if you could travel back in time, when would you go? What would you see?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly as they both slowly started walking back up to the castle. "Back to when you slapped Malfoy the other day." His grin was plastered across his face at the memory from just a few days ago. "I'd watch it over and over!"

Hermione shook her head and laughed slightly as they passed Hagrid. "You alrigh' there, Ron?" he asked. "Lovely service, Hermione."

"Thanks, Hagrid."

"Yeah, it was a good send off for him. Hagrid," Ron asked, "if you had a time turner, where would you go?"

"When, Ronald, when would he go." Hermione corrected and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well, let's see. Probably ter when Buckbeak hur' Malfoy, an' I'd stop it!"

"Hagrid, you're not allowed to alter the past. It's against wizarding laws." Ron rolled his eyes again and then asked Hermione what she would do with a time turner. She seemed a bit flummoxed for a second, stuttering and not making full sense until she said simply: "I'd find out what really happened to Scabbers that night. So that I could come back to now and we'd at least know the truth."

"Thanks," Ron replied.

"Alright' yeh two, hurry on inside." Hagrid said and they ran the last few meters to get back into the castle, waving goodbye to Hagrid as they met up with Harry.

"So, Harry," Ron asked, "where would you go if you had a time turner?"

"When, Ronald, when!"

"Bloody hell, Hermione."

X X X X X

The End.


End file.
